Candidates Matches and Computer Challenge to begin in Elista

FIDE Candidates Matches 2007 in Elista

The Candidates Matches for the 2007 World Chess Championship Tournament will be held in Elista, Russia, from May 26 to June 14, 2007. A total of 16 candidates play two rounds of six-game matches to fill four places in the 2007 World Championship in Mexico City. The prize fund is US $40,000 per match, most of the money ($320,000) coming from a personal fund of FIDE President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, FIDE ($160,000) and the general sponsor, Rosenergomash. The initial pairings are:

Schedule of the Candidates Matches

The semifinals will be followed by two rest days, and then by the second round between the respective match winners will take place.

Live coverage on Playchess

Playchess commentator GM Yasser Seirawan

The games of the Candidates Matches, which start at 15:00h local time (13:00h CEST), will be broadcast live on the Playchess.com server. There will be daily live audio commentary by GM Yasser Seirawan, with a minimum of three one hour lectures per round, beginning approximately thirty minutes after play has started. For a charge of ten Ducats (about one Euro) a visitor gets a twelve hour pass to listen to the live lectures. Furthermore, GM Seirawan will be awarding daily prizes of Gambit books to the person or persons who have been of the greatest assistance. "We are interested in verbal commentary about a given position (not computer generated analysis), as well as witty insights," he says. "Each and every one is welcome to join in the fun!”

Note that you can also purchase Ducats directly from Fritz or the Playchess client using the menu "Edit – Payments – Fill up account". This takes you to a special purchase page with your account name automatically passed on, to simplify the process.

The Ultimate Computer Chess Challenge

This event, which is sponsored by FIDE and Kalmyk President Kirsan Ilyumzhinov, takes place from June 6th to June 12th in the Goverment House, Elista, Republic of Kalmykia, the venue of the Candidates Matches. The computer games will be played on the same stage, starting at 11:30 a.m. during the final stages of the Candidates.

The opponents are the reigning computer chess world champion Deep Junior and the winner of the 2006 match against the human world champion Vladimir Kramnik, Deep Fritz. The rate of play for the computer match is Rapid Chess 75 min for the game + 5 sec per move. Arbiter is IM David Levy, President of the ICGA (International Computer Games Association). The prize fund is US $100,000 ($60,000 to the winner, $40,000 to the loser).

• Full information on the Ultimat Computer Chess Challenge